Behind on your mortgage? Your options and your rights

Updated November 8, 2026

If you've missed a payment or know you're about to, call your mortgage servicer now. The company you send payments to has options for people in trouble, and you have more of them early on.

Options your servicer may offer

• Repayment plan: you catch up by paying part of the missed amount each month on top of your regular payment. Best for a short, one-time setback.
• Forbearance: your payments are paused or reduced for a set time. They aren't forgiven. Ask exactly how the missed amount will be repaid when it ends.
• Loan modification: the loan's terms change for good to make the payment affordable. The term may be longer, the rate lower, or missed payments added to the balance.
• Deferral or partial claim: missed payments move to the end of the loan, or for FHA loans into a separate zero-interest loan, due when you sell, refinance or pay off the mortgage.
• Leaving the home on your terms: if keeping it isn't realistic, a short sale or a deed in lieu of foreclosure usually does less damage than a foreclosure.

Federal rules that protect you

For most home loans, federal mortgage servicing rules say:

• A servicer generally can't start foreclosure until you're more than 120 days behind.
• If you send a complete application for help more than 37 days before a foreclosure sale, the servicer must review it before going ahead.
• The servicer must reach out to you early in the delinquency and tell you about your options.

Send everything the servicer asks for, keep copies, and write down every call.

Free help

A HUD-approved housing counselor can review your situation, help with the paperwork and talk to your servicer, at no cost. Find one through the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's "find a housing counselor" tool at consumerfinance.gov.

Watch for scams

Be wary of anyone who:

• asks for a fee before doing anything (that's illegal for mortgage relief companies in most cases)
• tells you to stop paying your servicer and pay them instead
• asks you to sign over your home's title

Your servicer and HUD-approved counselors never charge you for help with a modification.

If other debts are what's squeezing your mortgage payment, see debt relief options compared.